Jazz
by crystalessences
Summary: Three hard headed girls are entered into the concurs. None of them planned on it or wanted it but in the end they decide to show those "snotty musicians" the fun of other genres of music. LenXOC HiharaXOC and maybe KeiichiXOC
1. Chapter 1

**So I wrote this over spring break but I didn't think I was going to post it. Honestly it was just something to keep me occupied… I didn't have it separated out into chapters until now; it was just a 33 page document sitting un-read on my computer. So I can't wait to see how this goes.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own anything except for my three main characters.**

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**Chapter 1- Announcements **

I smoothed my skirt for the millionth time. A new school, in a new town, in a new country. I guess I'm allowed to be a little nervous, right?

"Sabrina!" I turned to see Tally (short for Natalie) and Rachel running up the street, right at me.

"Gah!" I'm tackled by the 5' 3", blacked haired girl.

"It's been too long!" she laughs, rolling off me.

"I saw you at the airport on Saturday." I answer. Rachel, my (slightly taller than Tally) black haired friend, holds her hand out and helps me up. "Thanks."

"No prob, but are you okay? She got you full force that time."

"Yah I'm fine." I dust of my uniform which consists of a black jacket and a white skirt, the uniform for Seiso academy mainstream program.

"We should get going." Rachel starts up the hill and Tally and I follow.

Coming to the front gates of the school is impressive; even though we came here a few days ago to register it still sends a sense of awe through me. Seiso is nothing like the high schools back in the states, but it's in a good way. They have so much more equipment that our small town school ever will and the curriculum is high level, even in the main stream program.

Together the three of us made our way to the teachers' office to collect the books we needed.

"Here you go." A kind female teacher gives us the last of our supplies. "Do you know where you are headed?"

"Yep." Tally answered cheerfully "We got a tour the other day."

"Alright then. Have a good first day."

"Thank you very much." I said as we left the office.

We made our way down the crowed halls to classroom 2-2. Entering the classroom was worse than I could have imagined. All the students looked up and paid keen attention as we were introduced by the teacher. The three of us were seated in the back row, which help to minimize curious glances.

But by the end of the day we had settled in and we found we weren't treated any differently, well except in English class, The teacher wouldn't call on any of us to answer questions and rarely had us read because we always got it right.

I was packing my stuff up after our last class when Tally pounced on me again.

"Hey! We should go wander around." She suggested

"Why?"

" 'cause there's something I want to check out." She grabbed her bag and started dragging me along with Rachel following behind us.

"What are we looking for?" I asked as we crossed over into the music stream section of the school.

"The practice rooms." Tally finally answered.

"Why?"

"I heard that their super nice so I wanted to see."

"I heard that too." Rachel added

"So?"

"I might practice here instead of at home." Tally explained.

"That's actually a good idea." Which was true, there was nowhere for me to practice at home because the walls here were so thin that my practicing was too loud for the rest of my family.

"Tally actually thought of something good." Rachel chuckled.

We came upon a hall with specially paneled walls. "Found it!" whisper yelled Tally.

"Why are we whispering?" asked Rachel

" 'cause we don't know who's around." Tally peaked in the first door (there's a window on each door, its standard for most practice room doors). "Gah! Someone's in there."

We kept looking in doors until we found an empty practice room.

"Let's check it out." Tally yanked open the heavy, sound proofed door.

"Wow. This is nice." I looked around; it was a nice sized room (bigger than the ones at our old school) with a baby grand piano.

"Geez, this school is fancy." Rachel played a cord on the piano. "The piano's actually in tune."

"Jeez, isn't it normal for piano's to be in tune?" I asked

"Not at our old school." Tally said

"That's true." I agreed

"Well I know what I'm doing tomorrow after school." Rachel said looking around at the room one last time.

"Same." I closed the door behind us.

After our little scouting adventure we went to the teachers' office to reserve practice rooms for tomorrow after school then went our separate ways home.

When I arrived home I was greeted by the smells of a working kitchen.

"Hola~ Yo estoy en la casa!" I yelled out, using my first year Spanish skills.

"Dinners almost done. Go wash up!" my mom yelled back.

" 'kay!" I dropped my bag in my room and changed into sweats and a t-shirt then washed up. I ran down the stairs and slid into my seat at the table. "What are we eating today?"

"Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets." My mom slid a plate in front of me.

"Aww. Come on." Holly, my younger sister whined.

"I've been busy unpacking and looking for a job so I haven't had time to do any grocery shopping so eat up."

"I'll eat whatever you cook." My dad said. He's such a schmoozer, especially since we had to pick up and move because of his job.

"So how was school Sabrina?" My mom asks, taking her seat at the table.

"Good. The schools really fancy."

"Yah, same with my school." Agreed Holly

"Well as long as you're getting an education it doesn't matter what the schools like." My dad took a sip of his water.

"Oh, I'm going to use the practice rooms after school tomorrow so I'll be a little later getting home." I informed my parents.

"Alright. But I don't see why you don't want to be in the Music stream if your still going to be playing." My mom shook her head.

" 'cause I don't want to be a musician. I just play because I like to. I want to be an author and I can't go to college for writing if I only get a musical education." I'd been telling them this over the last couple of days. At first my mom was furious that I had 'quit' music because she had just bought me a boatload of new music books and supplies. I had to tell them over and over again that I wasn't quitting, just not pursuing it in school.

"I know. Just don't be home too late." My mom sighed

"I know that. I'll be home before dark."

~~The next day~~

This time I was prepared for Tally's tackle and side stepped at the last moment to avoid any injury or dirtying of uniform.

"So you brought mini klitzner today." Rachel said, eyeing my instrument case.

"Yep. I got a few new music books so I decided to go with him today. What about you?" I asked

"That's a secret." She smirked

"Well then. What about you Tally?" I asked

"Brought Toby!" she said swinging around her case.

"Coolio. Let's go."

During class we got a few weird looks because of our instrument cases but nobody asked us about them. At the end of the day we went straight to the practice rooms in order to avoid most of the other students. We lucked out and found no one in the practice rooms yet. The three of us had reserved the last three rooms and separated to go to our designated rooms.

Setting down my case I flipped open the locks and started putting together my soprano.

I sat down on the piano bench and tuned to the piano. Satisfied I pulled my music out and put on the piano stand and started learning some new Disney songs. I often buy pop or movie music books for fun and practice fillers. I often got bored of the same music day after day for band so this was my way of branching out.

I played for about an hour before I packed up and left. Tally had already left when I finished and Rachel was going to stay a little longer so I walked home alone.

This pattern occurred for the rest of the week and we found it enjoyable to be able to practice at our own leisure.

The next Monday seemed no different. The three of us walked to school together and took our normal seats in the back.

"Sabrina~" I looked up to find tally leaning over at me with puppy eyes.

"What?"

"Can I see your math homework?" asked Tally

"Why didn't you do it?"

" 'cause I didn't get it."

"Why didn't you text me for help then?"

" 'cause my phone was dead."

"Why didn't you charge your phone?"

" 'cause my charger is still packed in a moving box."

"Why… oh wait. Never mind. Here" I pulled my homework out of the bag and passed it to her. "Just don't let the teacher see."

"Yay! You rock!" she started copying down answers.

I looked up again when a girl rushed into the classroom, I believe her name was Hino-san or Kaho-chan as her friend called her. Said friend greeted her then dragged her to her seat, swooning over something.

I found it funny when the same girl spaced out during roll call.

~~During Lunch Break~~

"I see you brought both Klitzners' today." Rachel said referring to both instrument cases.

"Yep, thought I'd practice both today."

"Diligent as always." Tally teased.

"Yah, whatever." I brushed it off and continued eating my sandwich.

We were then interrupted by the principle coming on the intercom. "Well…err…Hello there everybody. There are some things you need to know concerning this year's musical concours which will be held in the school. So now I will announce the participants of the concours. To begin from the music department…"

"Well I guess this doesn't involve us." Tally said, ignoring the announcement.

I nodded in agreement and went back to finishing up my sandwich. I half listened but didn't know any of the names so it meant nothing to me. But when the principle started at the normal department my ears perked up.

"From the regular department; Sabrina Hayden from class 2-2, Natalie Miles from class 2-2, Rachel Kindred from class 2-2 and lastly from class 2-2 Hino

Kahoko-san."

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**So I guess I should explain the 'mini klitzner' part huh? So Klitzner is the name of my saxophone (my friends named it after the youtube guy) and so I'm calling Sabrina's soprano a mini klitzner. Toby is Tally's trumpet (my friend Tosh calls her trumpet Toby) Toby refers to Tobuscus from youtube. Yah, we're band geeks :) we name our instruments. **

**Anyways please leave a review, I love them and they keep me writing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay! Two chapters in one day! **

**Just kidding, I already had this written so it's not surprising. Anyways I'm probably talking to myself now. So onwards with the story!**

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**Chapter 2-Meetings**

"_From the regular department; Sabrina Hayden from class 2-2, Natalie Miles from class 2-2, Rachel Kindred from class 2-2 and lastly from class 2-2 Hino Kahoko-san."_

Hino-san wasn't the only one freaking out. "What the heck!" Tally almost yelled but Rachel and I both covered her mouth.

We watched as Hino got up and ran out of the classroom.

"Why did we get picked?" asked Tally "We aren't in the music department, no one knows we are musician or if we're any good."

"Yah, that's weird. How did we get picked?" Rachel was just as confused.

"We should go see." I said picking up my instruments.

"Why are you bringing them?" asked Tally

" 'Cause there's no way I'm leaving them here."

"That's probably smart." Tally grabbed her case too.

We made our way down the teachers' office to find Hino-san already talking with the teacher in charge.

"Um-m!" Hino still seemed to be protesting when we came in.

"Excuse us."

"What do you need?"

"Well we probably have the same question as Hino-san. Why did we get chosen?" asked Rachel

"Your musicians aren't you?" asked the teacher

"Well yah…" Tally answered

"Then that's why you're in the concours." He said simply.

We were then interrupted by two students dressed in the white, music department uniform.

"Kaanaya!"

"We got chosen." A green haired boy beamed.

"I heard that you were the teacher in charge of the concours so we came to greet you." A taller purple haired boy said.

The green hair boy then looked at us. "Could you be the regular department participants?"

He then charged at us. Grabbing one of Hino-san's hands and one of Rachels (because Tally and I had our hands full of instruments).

"I'm Hihara Kazuki, a third year. I specialize in playing the trumpet. Nice to meet you."

"U-um." Hino and Rachel could only stutter in response.

"I'm kinda happy students from the regular department got chosen. Let's make the concours enjoyable."

"There now Hihara, babbling on for so long like that will trouble them." The purple haired boy chastised.

"Oh, sorry." He jerked back.

"I'm really sorry. I'm Yunoki Azuma. I specialize in the flute." He was quite the polite guy. "What do you four specialize in?"

"U-um…" Hino was trying to butt in but she couldn't.

"It'll be bad if it's the flute. We'll become rivals then."

"No..so.." Hino seemed to have their attention so we just sat quietly.

"Then in that case the trumpet!" Hihara was jumping to conclusions.

"I have nothing to do with this!" Hino yelled suddenly then ran out of the room.

"Well there she goes." Tally sighed.

"Hmm?" Yunoki looked at us questioningly.

"That's Hino-san, she seems pretty against the concours idea." Tally explained.

"And you three are?"

"Rachel Kindred"

"Natalie Miles"

"Sabrina Hayden"

"It's nice to meet you three."

"The same too you." I returned

"What do you all play?" asked Hihara

"Well I'm your rival on the trumpet." Tally admitted, holding up her trumpet case.

"No way! That's cool!"

"Haha, I guess." Tally said

"And you two?" asked Yunoki

"I'm a percussionist." Rachel said "It really varies on what I play."

"I'm interested to see what you play in the concours." Yunoki then turned to me.

"I play the saxophone. I specialize in the alto and soprano."

"Really?"

"Yep." I was used to people not believing that I played the saxophone.

"Well I look forward to your performances."

"The same too you." I said, and with that we left.

The other students seemed to look at us differently the rest of the day. It was not something we were used to. Back home we just blended in and our group usually went unbothered but now our classmates knew we were different.

~~After class~~

"Hey Sabrina~" Tally pounced on me, yet again.

"What is it?" I ask, shaking her off my shoulders.

"Do you want to practice with us?" she asks, placing her trumpet on my desk.

"Practice what?" I slide my last book into my bag.

"Pep band!" she says excitedly

"She had another good idea." Rachel says, twirling one of her drum sticks around.

"Sure but there's not enough room for all three of us in the practice room is there? Especially if Tally's going to be playing loud, I don't want my eardrums blown out."

"Let's go to the rooftop then." Tally suggests

"But people will hear us." Rachel points out.

"So, not that many people will still be around after school. It won't matter." Tally starts dragging us along.

When we reached the rooftop we found no one around so we set up our instruments. Unfortunately Rachel only had her snare practice pad so we wouldn't be able to hear her very well.

"Should I play alto or soprano?" I asked

"Do you have soprano pep music?" Tally asked

"Yah. But I've only ever done alto for pep band."

"Then play alto." Rachel said, taking a seat with her practice pad on another bench.

"Fine." I flipped open the locks on my case and set up my saxophone. "What do you want to play?"

"I'd say start with the star spangled banner but we're in Japan." Rachel said

"How 'bout I Love Rock and Roll?" I suggested

"Sure" Tally started us off.

~ ~ ~ ~ music ~ ~ ~ ~

"That sounded good."

"Yep. But why wouldn't it? We had to memorize it for the parade last year so it should sound perfect." Tally added

"True. Wanna play Gangam?" I asked

"Of course!" Tally turned to Rachel to start us off.

~ ~ ~ ~ music (_Hey~ sexy lady~_) ~ ~ ~ ~

After that we went through a variety of pep band songs. We didn't stay too long and ended up heading home together. When I got home there was a lot of chaos over my competition. My mom kept telling me that this is why I should be in the music program and I kept telling her that I didn't want to be. My dad almost couldn't get us to stop arguing.

~~Le time skip to lunch time!~~

"Sazzy~"

"What did you just call me?" I looked up at the ever energetic Tally.

"I finally came up with a nickname for you. It's Sazzy. You take the Sa from Sabrina and the zz from jazz, 'cause you love jazz music, and then I added a y." Tally explained, brown eyes gleaming happily.

"It is easier than calling you Sabrina." Rachel pointed out.

"Whatever."

"Er…to the participants of the concours…you are to assemble in the conference room of the music department." Came the voice on the intercom.

I looked over to Hino. "Do you want to walk together?" I asked

"I guess." She stood up from her seat and made her way to the conference room with us.

"Do you guys really want to play on the concours?" she asked suddenly

"We don't have anything against it so we figured we might as well see how we compare to the music department students." Rachel was twirling her drumstick again.

"So you guys are good?" she asked

"I guess you could say that." I shrugged

"Don't guess!" Tally exclaimed "You were first chair in wind ensemble! That's good."

"That's not my point. We don't know how our old schools standards compare to these guys standards." I explained.

We came up to the door to the conference room to be greeted by Hihara, Yunoki and the teacher, Kaanaya.

Together we entered the conference room.

I immediately took a survey of the other students. A tall, blue haired boy wore a red neck tie meaning he's a second year. There was a blonde haired boy with a blue neck tie meaning first year, and a turquoise haired girl also wearing a blue neck tie.

"Hino-senpai" the girl knew Hino-san?

"Right, that's everyone." Kaanaya announced. "It's best for you to meet each other… at least that's what the principle told me. Then let's start introductions from that end." He gestured to the girl.

"I'm Fuyuumi Shuoko from 1-B. I specialize in the clarinet."

Next was the blonde boy. "1-A, Shimizu Keiichi. I specialize in the cello."

"3-B, Hihara Kazuki. I specialize in the trumpet. Nice to meet you."

"From the same class, 3-B, Yunoki Azuma. I specialize in the flute."

The blue haired boy went next. "2-A, Tsukimori Len. I specialize in the violin."

Then it was our turns.

"2-2, Rachel Kindred. I specialize in percussion."

"Also 2-2, Tally Miles. I specialize in the trumpet." Tally looked at Hihara when she said that.

"2-2 again, I'm Sabrina Hayden. I specialize in the soprano and alto saxophone."

"2-2, Hino Kahoko. Violin…" she trailed off at the end.

"Right, that's all nine of you." Kaanaya scratched his head. "The concours is divided into four sections. The performances are ranked for each selection and the finalists are determined based on this ranking. You will be presented a theme for each section. You can choose whatever song you wish but it has to be based on the theme. In short, your interpretations of the respective pieces are important. However, before all that and the ranking takes place I want you to deepen your musical comprehension and more than anything don't forget to enjoy yourselves."

With that we were dismissed.

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**Don't think there's anything from this chapter that I have to explain… on another note please leave a review! I love hearing from my readers :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay! Chapter 3 :) Did a little bit of re-writing.**

**Chapter 3-**** Gavotte**

_However, before all that and the ranking takes place I want you to deepen your musical comprehension and more than anything don't forget to enjoy yourselves."_

_With that we were dismissed._

"Sazzy~"

"What?"

"What piece are you going to do?" asked Tally

"We don't even know the theme yet." I said

"You should still work on a piece." Rachel advised

"I know. I was planning on going to the music store after school."

"Can I come with?" asked Tally

"No. I'll get distracted if you come." I said plainly

"Awww. Fine. We'll leave you alone after school."

~~After School~~

I made my way through town to a little music store I had found.

"Hello." The owner greeted

"Hello."

"Anything I could help you with?"

"No, not right now." I went to the sheet music section and started browsing.

After about a half hour of searching I came out with 24 Capricci, Op. 1 for alto or soprano saxophone. I'd been recently debating buying this piece and now I had a good reason. If I was going to take this competition seriously I needed to pull out the big guns and Paganini is no easy composer.

When I got home I went straight to my little sister.

"Holly."

"Hmm?" she looked up from her computer

"For the concours we'll need an accompanist on the piano."

"Yah. So?"

"You're going to be my accompanist."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Holly, you are the only person around that I know that can learn to play a piece fast enough for this competition."

"Fine. What piece do you want?" she huffed

"Well I don't know what piece I'm doing because I don't have a theme yet. So in preparation could you learn this?" I handed her the accompanist part for 24 Capricci, Op.1.

"You're seriously doing Paganini? Are you insane?" she looked at me dumbfounded.

"Just learn your part and I'll worry about mine. Could you learn this one too, just in case?" I pulled Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael off the shelf.

"Fine. But you owe me for this." Holly got up and walked downstairs to the piano. I was only happy that she'd agreed to do this. She hates playing in front of people.

~~Le time skip to next Wednesday, since nothing really important happens~~

It was after school and Tally wanted to go up to the roof to practice again. When we came to the top though we found Hihara was there with his trumpet.

"Hey, what are you three doing here?" he asked

"We came up to do some pep band practice." Tally said, putting down her trumpet case.

"Pep band?"

"Short, pop or rock tunes played by bands at sporting events or during parades." I explained

"If we're bothering you just say the word." Rachel said

"Nah it's no biggie."

"Actually, can we listen to you play?" I asked

"I don't mind."

~ ~ ~ ~Trumpet Music ~ ~ ~ ~

As Hihara finished Hino came upstairs.

"Oh? Hino-chan! What's wrong?" asked Hihara

"Ah? Um…practice…"

"I see, all the more for tomorrow, right? How's your playing?"

"Not very good…"

"Just play like you always do." Hihara advised

"It's nothing to worry about; if you don't fret you'll do fine." I advised

"You guys are here too?"

"Yep, decided to check out the competition." Tally joked. She then went back to fiddling with a valve on her trumpet.

"What are you playing?" Hihara asked, it seemed to be directed at Hino.

"Uh…it's…Gavotte."

"Gavotte, huh? I've played that too!" Hihara was way too excited about that.

"Eh? You can play it on the trumpet too?" Hino seemed surprised

"Of course you can."

"Hihara Kazuki shall present you with his performance!" He started to play Gavotte.

"Haha." I laughed at his animated movements.

At the first break I joined in on my alto.

"Woo! Go Sazzy!" Tally cheered

"What's wrong Hino-chan?" Hihara stopped playing after getting halfway through the second melody.

"What's up?" I asked, lowering my saxophone.

"Nothing. It's just that your performance seemed like such a playful tune. I guess you could say that I'm no good at all."

Hihara walked up to Hino. "Don't give me that complicated face Hino-chan. And you were enjoying it so much too…it's because it's a lovely tune. You just have to enjoy it more."

"You have to have fun with it. It doesn't sound any good if you don't like what you're doing." I explained "Music is about feeling. Since I found it fun to play Gavotte as a duet it sounded like a playful tune."

Something seemed to click for Hino-chan. "Thank you Hihara-senpai, Sabrina-chan."

"No problem."

As the three of us were leaving the school we found Hino standing in front of the statue at the front gates. She had out her violin and I noticed her friends, Fuyuumi and Yunoki's bodyguards were there.

"Now, would you perform for us like you promised?" asked one of the bodyguards.

Hino raised her violin and I noticed her take a deep breath. Good, calm the nerves and ready your body. Extra oxygen means your fingers will move better.

She started to play. ~ ~ ~ ~

"Gavotte, such an easy piece?" The bodyguards didn't seem to be impressed.

"Shh." A girl with a camera shushed her.

She seemed to be enjoying it. Then other students started to gather and listen.

Hino opened her eyes and seemed to be surprised. She tripped up.

"You managed to make a mistake at such an easy part." The bodyguards seemed happy the she was nervous and making mistakes. "Now, please continue playing the rest."

I noticed that Hino was shaking slightly. I knelt down and discreetly opened my soprano case. I had a plan formulating in my head and I wasn't about to let those girls put Hino down.

Hino paused for a few seconds when I heard a trumpet join in. I Looked up to see Hihara had the same idea I did.

Quickly, I walked up beside him and started playing along.

Hino got the message and started playing along.

~ ~ ~ ~ As we finished the crowd started clapping.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Hihara was taking the clapping to heart already.

I on the other hand just stood there and smiled.

"We don't approve of this." The bodyguards seemed unhappy. "Isn't that unfair. Playing together."

"Wait. It's not Hino-chans fault!" Hihara stepped in between them and I stood up next to him.

"It's ours…butting in on our own like that." I nodded in agreement.

"And besides, Yunoki was the one who said we'd have to help her out."

"We know about that!" Yah right… "Do excuse us." They stormed off.

"Huh? Did I say too much?"

"Kaho-chan!" Her friends ran up and hugged her.

"Sazzy!" I was then tackled by Tally

"Hey! Watch the instrument!" I said, trying to hold my soprano out of the way.

"Hino-chan, Sabrina-chan, That was fun! Let's do it again sometime." Hihara smiled

"Yes!" Hino smiled back.

"Of course!" I smiled too.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 - Danger**

"_Hino-chan, Sabrina-chan, That was fun! Let's do it again sometime." Hihara smiled_

"_Yes!" Hino smiled back._

"_Of course!" I smiled too. _

~~The Next Day~~

For once I was by myself as I walked past the teachers' office. As I went past Hino-san came out.

"Hey." I greeted

"Oh, hi." She returned

"How's it going?" I asked, walking alongside her.

"Not good. Did you know that we needed an accompanist?"

"Yah."

"Oh. Where did you find one?" she asked

"Haha."

"What?"

"Sorry." I stopped laughing "The way you said that sounded funny. But my accompanist is my sister."

"Really? Does she go to this school too?"

"Nope. She's two years younger."

"And she's your accompanist?"

"Yep. She may be younger but she's really good on the piano. Plus they aren't ranking you on your accompanists' performance."

"Oh…"

"So where are you going?" I asked

"I think I need to talk to Tsukimori." She said quietly "But I don't know how to talk to him."

"You want me to go with?" I asked, I was just trying to be nice.

"Really?"

"Ya. Tally and Rachel went to go talk with some friends of ours who are pianists to see if they can be their accompanists so I'm all alone today."

"Thank you."

We made our way to the music section of the school.

As we turned a corner we found who we were looking for but he seemed to be a little occupied.

"What's that? Say that again Tsukimori!"

"If you senpai's want to get in the concours so much shouldn't you being complaining to the school instead of me?"

Hino and I stood and watched from the safety of the corner.

"Even if I withdraw from the competition I don't think you senpais would be chosen anyway." Tsukimori continued.

"He's only making it worse…" I whispered and Hino

"Why you!" One of the boys grabbed Tsukimori's collar and shove him against the wall. "You'd better shut up!"

I was about ready to start biting my nails when Hino grabbed a vase and flung the water at the boys. Though she managed to get Tsukimori too…

They both looked at us, shocked.

"What's with that?" The boy backed away from Tsukimori

"U-umm…" Good going Hino.

"We're against violence?"

"Are you fooling around with us?" He was yelling again. He took a step towards us and Hino took a step back. Problem was, I stayed still, thus causing Hino to trip over me and drop the vase onto the both of us.

"Oww…" Hino sat up; she had slipped backwards on the floor and was now behind me.

"Ouch." I looked down at my leg to find a piece of the vase had cut a long slice down my shin. And my fingers didn't look to good either. "Well this is just great."

To my surprise Tsukimori knelt down in front of me and grabbed my hand. "Show me." He saw the cuts that ran down my fingers and the one piece of the vase still stuck in my palm.

"T-they fell down on their own!" The two third years ran off.

"I'm fine…Tsukimori-kun." I tried to pull my hand away.

He undid his neck scarf, tie, thingy and tried to wrap it around my hand but I pulled away. "Your tie will get dirty. I'll be fine."

"These are the fingers you use to play your saxophone aren't they?" He made it sound like it was a big deal.

"I use all my fingers to play…" I mumble

"Are you okay?" asks Hino. She scoots over to me and I see she's bleeding too.

"Hino, you're hurt too, don't worry about me."

"Huh?" she looks down at her hand as if she's just realizing she got cut.

"Come on you two." Tsukimori took us to the infirmary.

Hino treated her own hand since it was non-dominant but Tsukimori made me let him clean mine.  
He pulled the piece of vase out of my palm and it started to bleed.

"Here," Hino handed Tuskimori the band-aids and he started wrapping them around my fingers then the one cut on my palm.

"I can take care of my leg." I told him when he started to clean it. "You should dry off…"

He took off his jacket and grabbed a towel.

"I'm sorry for getting you wet." Hino apologized while looking at the floor.

"I should apologize for letting her do that." I placed the final band-aid on my leg.

"You two certainly are meddlesome. Furthermore you both got hurt. That kind of cut could affect your performances."

Hino just sat there quietly as I put the band-aids away.

"What's wrong?"

"That's kind of amazing, practicing every day, taking care of your body too. Your life sure revolves around the violin, huh?"

"So what?" He slipped his jacket back on.

"I think that you must really love the violin."

He looked back at us "That's worthless."  
"Whether you hate it or you love it such sentiments are worthless."

"Then why are you playing the violin?"

"It is none of your business." He then left the infirmary with a cold shoulder.

"Don't listen to him." I said, washing my hands of blood.

"What?"

"Sentiments are important in music. He's just too cold hearted to realize it." I dried my hands off. "You saw how feelings affected your Gavotte performance so don't listen to that guy."

"That's true. But what about why he plays?" Hino asks

"I can't speak for him but not everybody who plays loves music." I turned around to face her. "Some people are forced into it by their parents. My parents made me take piano lessons even though I disliked the time and effort I had to put into it."

"You don't like playing?"

"No, I didn't say that. I didn't like piano practice. I loved playing just not the work that went along with it. Then I started playing the saxophone and I didn't care about the effort, I just couldn't stop playing."

"Oh, I see."

"It's complicated but it's just how I feel and I'm sure other people have the same issues. Who knows, Tuskimori might not like playing, but it is his business, not ours."  
"In any case we should get to class. We have P.E next don't we?"

"That's right."

~~After P.E~~

I was walking back with Hino and her friends (whose names I haven't quite remembered yet).

"Kaho, your shots miss too much."

"Eh. I thought I was becoming quite good…" Hino kicked and her shoe went flying, hitting a guy in the back.

"Oh my."

"Good job." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Hino?"

"Tsuchiura-kun!"

The boy with green hair handed Hino her shoe back. "What were you doing?"

"Sorry, sorry. Today's P.E class was soccer you see."

"Really? It must have been pretty tough."

"Ah, but I think I made a great shot."

"Oh? Does it look like this one?" Tsuchiura turned around to show the footprint on his jacket.

"Ah… that was a bit of a miss…" Hino started dusting off his jacket.

"Kaho, your results for the skill test in soccer for this term were really bad." One of her friends reminded her.

"Leave me alone." Hino protested

"Hino-san, Sabrina-san." We turned around to see none other than Tuskimori standing behind us.

"Tuskimori-kun?" I too was surprised he was here.

"I was asked by Kanazawa-sensei to give these to you." He handed each of us a paper.

"Eh? He asked you to go through such trouble?" Hino looked down at the paper "What is this?"  
"Interschool concours…first selection?! It's starting already!? It hasn't even been two weeks!"

"I guess so." Tuskimori shrugged

"What piece are you playing Tuskimori-kun?"

"Me?"

"I mean…like what kind of exercises have you been normally doing…" Hino hid behind her paper "Have you gotten the knack of your chosen piece… and a lot of other things I'd like to ask."

"I don't have an obligation to answer that, don't you think? Besides, I don't think it will help you if you ask." He turned away "At any rate, I'd like it if you take care of yourself so the quality of the concours doesn't decrease."

"The quality of the concours, huh?" Tsuchiura didn't sound very happy and Tuskimori stopped walking away. "Music student-sama sure seems to have a lot of confidence in his skills."

"So what? If I'm aiming for the same victory as she is I would only like to compete to get a higher level and rank than her."

"That's worthless."

"Worthless?"

The boys started to stare at each other with Hino, and unfortunately myself, stuck in the middle.

"We, the music students, put a lot of effort everyday into improving our performances."

Tsuchiura walked closer to Tuskimori, standing in between us and him. "So are you saying that the regular students don't exert any effort?"

"It's about the attitude we have towards music. In any case you don't have the right to say anything. Excuse me." He turned and walked away.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, despite the pain; this guy was starting to make my blood boil.

"What's up with that pretentious attitude?" Seems he made Tsuchiura's blood boil too. "I don't have the right, huh?"

"Is something wrong?" Hino asked

"No… it's nothing. Then I'll be going." He walked down the hall but something about it made me feel that something was wrong, which is weird 'cause I don't even know the guy!

**So did you like my speech about liking music? That's actually how it happened for me. My parents forced me into piano lessons, saying that I'd thank them for it later (okay, it was more just my mom, my dad has no musical talents or interests) I do thank them for getting me into music but I still don't like that they forced me into it. I put those feelings and thoughts into Sabrina because what Len says there is so far from the truth and someone needed to say something.  
Anyways ignore my rant and please leave a review. I'm on chapter 4 and I have yet to get a single review. That's just downright sad people…**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 is a bit short compared to some of my other chapters but this is probably my normal length…**

**Anyways please leave a review! I love to know how I'm doing :) ~Crystal**

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**Chapter 5- Piano**

"_No… it's nothing. Then I'll be going." He walked down the hall but something about it made me feel that something was wrong, which is weird 'cause I don't even know the guy!_

~~End of the day~~

I was walking with Hino and her friends, again. Actually Hino and I had decided to go to a music store together after school.

"Hey, that guy earlier was Tsuchiura-kun from the soccer club, right? Since when were you getting along so well with him, Kaho-chan?"

"Eh?"

"You seemed quite close."

"Ehh?"

"Hino-chan! Sabrina-chan!"

"Hihara-senpai" We found the energetic trumpeter waving at us. Geez, what is it with energetic people and trumpets?

"Are you two going home now?"

"Yep, what about you, Senpai?"

"Me? I've got practice today. The first selection has been decided too. I don't like practicing but I want to do a good performance." Hihara started to run off "Let's do our best!"

"Hey, wasn't that guy just now the one who saved you the other day?"

"Jeez, I guess I did nothing…"

"She only pays attention to guys, don't take it personally." Hino's other friend told me.

"He seems like a kind and cheerful person." She continued "There's Tuskimori-kun who's cool and good looking and also Yunoki-san who's a wonderful senpai, right? Kaho-chan it seems that the Violin Romance is taking place!" her eyes started to sparkle.

~~Le time skip to after shopping, 'cause shopping's boring~~

We exited the store and I found that I'd surprised myself with buying something here. I'd gotten another music book because I couldn't turn down a Top 25 Christian Hits book at half-price. Hino had gotten a few CD's but no sheet music.

As we walked down the street Hino stopped "Did you hear that just now?"

"Hmm?" I listened for a second then I caught what she was talking about. "Yah, I did."

We walked down an alley and found ourselves on a smaller street in front of a shop called Minami Instruments.

"Hey! I've shopped here a few times." I said, taking in the familiar site.

Hino looked at the violins in the display window.

"Should we look inside?" I ask "They've got a good selection for a small store."

"Sure."

I pulled open the door only to be greeted by the sound of the piano.

"Amazing…the notes are overflowing." Hino was amazed by the piece.

I nodded in agreement and continued down the aisle towards the back, where I knew the piano was.  
As we turned the corner of the bookshelf we were surprised to find Tsuchiura playing the piano. Both of us stood in amazement at the smooth melody of the song.

The shopkeeper walked up to us. I nodded in greeting and he smiled "Good to see you again." Turning to the piano "It's Chopin's 'Fantasia'. It's a performance that requires quite a large range."

All of a sudden there was a banging on the piano.

"Hino, Sabrina? Why are you two here?" He knows my name? Hmmmmmm, don't remember mentioning it… oh that's right, Tuskimori said it…

"Eh…we just happened to pass by…and I never imagined that you played the piano…" He stood up and started stomping towards us. To avoid unnecessary injuries like earlier I got out of Hino's way as she backed away. As Hino was up against the wall Tsuchiura pounded his fist against it.

"Don't tell anybody about that just now!" He then turned and glared at me too.

"By just now, did you mean…the piano?" Hino asked hesitantly. "Why?"

Tsuchiura sighed "I'm begging you."

"There, there, calm down Ryou." The shopkeeper interfered.

He backed off a bit.

"You two are students from Seiso, right?" asked the shopkeeper "Are you looking for something?"

"Eh? No…that's…" there she goes stuttering.

"What's with you Hino? If you don't have any business why would you be in a place like this? Are you okay with that? And the concours is closing in too and you're slacking off."

"Eh, well…no…"

"Concours?"

We had to then sit down and explain to the shopkeeper that we were in the concours. He gave us some hot chocolate for our trouble though.

"I see, the interschool concours, huh? Isn't that amazing for you two to be chosen?"

"Not really… I'm a complete amateur." There she goes again "There are things I don't understand left and right."

"Aren't there things like the theme?" asked Tsuchiura

"Yep." I answered

"And then I need to decide on an accompanist and other various things." Hino was starting to sound depressed.

"In that case why don't you ask Ryou to do it?" suggested the shopkeeper.

"That would be cool!" I almost started hopping up and down in my seat at the idea.

Hino put her hands together and leaned over towards him but he shied away.

"Don't joke around." He stood up.

"Eeeh?"

"No 'eeehs'!"

"But you're this good. I have a feeling that it would be a waste if you become my accompanist."

"No. It's not that." He sat back down.

"My, my. What kind of relationship is this?" asked the shopkeeper "Is there anything else I could help out with, putting accompanist aside?"

"No…that's…"

"It's alright. It's alright. Whatever they may say, Ryou is experienced when it comes to concours."

Said Pianist did a mini spit take.

"His mother is a piano teacher, so he knows a lot of things."

"That's great, Tsuchiura-kun!" Hino seemed a bit too happy.

"That's cool." I added

He then slammed his coco down. "That was an old story."

"Sorry. It's okay! I won't tell anyone, so…"

"I'm going home ahead of you." He stood up "Bye Hino, Sabrina. I'm going on ahead."

"Okay…"

I listened to the bell of the door as he left.

"I wonder if I made him feel bad. Tsuchiura-kun has been helping me a lot lately too…"

"Ryou seems to be worried about you."

Hino sat up a little straighter.

"It's probably because you three are regular students and have been participants." Did he lump me in there too? "It's been awhile since Ryou played like that here. I wonder if something happened at school."

"Tsuchiura-kun seemed to come here a lot before."

"Ah, indeed. Since he was about the same height as that piano. He used to play the piano so often after going home from school."

"And now he's stopped playing?" I asked

"I wonder if he had been happier if he had quit at an earlier point."

"Hmm?"

"I can see why." I swirled my coco. "It's hard to give up the piano. It just sticks with you and you can't seem to get rid of it. It seems worse the longer you've played."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- Preparing **

~~That weekend~~

I had decided to go to the park to get some fresh air. I had been stuffed inside all week practicing for the concours.

I rummaged through my closet for the first time. Everything had finally been unpacked yesterday. Even though I saw it as an accomplishment it still made me sad, it meant that my new life was here, not back in the US.

Shaking myself out of my self-pity I pulled out a pair of bright pink shorts and a white tank top. I don't know what ever possessed me to buy pink shorts but I had to admit that they looked good on me. The weather had surprisingly been nice enough for shorts today so I wasn't going to take the sun for granted.

After pulling on my clothes I pulled my brown hair up into a ponytail. Down, my hair reached to about the middle of my back. With it up the semi-wavy length went over my shoulder and almost down to my elbow. After I was satisfied with it semi-controlled I put on my pink and black headphones on and set my ipod to Bullet Train. I grabbed my favorite silver bracelet and slipped it on before heading downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Holly's head popped around the corner of the living room.

"To the park." I said, grabbing my soprano from beside the couch.

"Shouldn't you be practicing instead of goofing off?"

"I'm going to get stuff done at the park." I said, holding up my case.

"Sure. Sure." Holly rolled her eyes and went back to her TV show.

I grabbed my wallet off the kitchen counter, just in case, and slipped it inside the outside compartment of my case along with a few music scores and then I left.

The closest park was a quick 10 minute walk away. The one thing I liked about Japan was that everyone walked everywhere. If I had wanted to go a park back home I would have had to finagle a car ride and then it just wouldn't have been worth it.

When I arrived at the park I found a bench in the shade of a tree and pulled out my ipod. I switched to a recording of Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael. I pulled the score out of my case and fingered along with the recording.

I was on about the 5th repeat of the song when Hihara came up behind me and scared me.

"Gah! What are you doing here?"

"Haha. Got you." He smiled "And this is a public place. I can be here if I want."

"That's not what I meant but fine. But did you have to scare me?" I asked, setting down my score.

"Well you couldn't hear me with your headphones on so I thought it would be easy enough to scare you."

"Meany." I pouted

"So what are you doing?"

"Getting fresh air." I said, stretching.

"What's with the music?"

"Oh, I'm still trying to decide if this is the piece I want to do."

"Stardust by Carmichael." Hihara started looking through the score. "I don't think I've heard this before."

"I hadn't either, before I bought it."

"Looks like it would be fun though."

"Yep, I really love the melody. It's an older piece but I think the emotion is still there."

Hihara whistled "Geez, that sounded deep."

"Really? I didn't think it sounded deep…"

"How do you think it fits the theme?"

"Changing subjects…" I mumbled "It works; well it works for me personally."

"That's all that matters." Hihara grinned.

"What song are you doing?"I asked, packing up my music.

"That's a surprise." Hihara winked at me.

"Meany." I pouted again.

"Too bad." I stood up. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Home. I think." I picked up the rest of my stuff "See you tomorrow."

"See you." Hihara waved at me as I left.

The next few days flew by. Hours were spent practicing and I still had to fit in time for studying.  
The day of the conours finally arrived.

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**Sorry this is so short. I'll try and make up for it in the next chapter.**

**I also want to thank my two reviewers, you guys rock!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay! 3 reviews. (That's low compared to my other stories but I'm still happy about it!) I love hearing from my readers because it makes me feel like I'm doing something right.**  
**On another note I've been debating doing some drawings of my OC's because I feel that I haven't given a really good outline of them. So as soon as I'm done with the drawings I'll out a link up on my profile.**  
**Thanks again for reading! Enjoy ~Crystal**

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**Chapter 7- Selection 1**** (part 1)**

The next few days flew by. Hours were spent practicing and I still had to fit in time for studying.  
The day of the conours finally arrived and I was getting ready to leave for school. I had packed up my dress and soprano along with some extra supplies in case I accidently broke or misplaced something.

"Holly!" I called.

"What!" she yelled back.

I went to her doorway and peered in. "We have to go."

"Coming." She had refused a dress and opted for black slacks and a white dress shirt. She followed me downstairs.

"Good luck." My mom smiled as we left.

We walked quickly to school and were greeted at the front gate by Tally and Rachel and their accompanists.

"Sazzy you took forever." Tally complained as we made our way to the music hall.

"We were just early." Kim commented. Kim was a friend of ours who had been moved to Japan as well but she decided to go to another school, today she would be Rachel's accompanist.

"I agree with Kim." Ella added. Ella was another friend of ours and she was brilliant on the piano but was too shy to show it. Today she would be Tally's accompanist.

We entered the building and made our way back to the girls changing room.

"So what dresses did you guys pick?" I ask, pulling my own dress out of my bag.

"You'll have to see." Tally winked.

I shook my head and sighed and slipped off my school uniform and pulled the dress over my head.

"Wow! Sazzy's dress is super cute!" Tally exclaimed when she caught a glimpse of my dress.

"It's pretty and it matches your eyes." Ella said

"Thanks." I blushed at the comment. I was a silky blue dress, it didn't have shoulders but two sets of strings connected it to a slip of fabric that went around my neck. The dress ended slightly below my knees with a silver trim. I pull my silver flats out of my bag and put them on.

"No heels?" asks Rachel.

"Nah. I can't walk in them."

"I can't either." Tally shows me her black flats. I notice her dress; it's a deep purple dress with sleeves that end at her shoulders. The dress goes down to her knees as well. It has a swirling black pattern around the neckline (which is a bit daring for her but she pulls it off) and the end of the dress.

"You look good Tally."

"Yah' think so?" Tally spins around "My sister picked it out."

"She's got good taste." Kim slips her dress on "Could you get the back?"

"I got it." I close the small clasp on the back.

Kim, being an accompanist, has to a blander dress so she picked out a simple black dress. Ella pulled off a white dress with some lace trim.

"What's Rachel wearing?" Tally looks to the back corner. Rachel is trying to hide the dress; she's normally not self conscious but it seems to be different with dresses.

"Is it ok?" She's wearing an emerald dress with long sleeves.

"You look great." Ella reassures her.

"Yah, you totally pull off green." I told her. I turned back to the mirror to adjust my hair. I curled it for the special occasion. I re-arrange my curls so that my bangs are pinned back and the rest is swooped over one shoulder.

The rest of the girls spend a few minutes on their hair. Part way through Fuyuumi came in.

"Good morning." I greeted

"A-ah good morning." She returned

With all of us finished up we went out to the back stage. Slowly but surely everyone came in.

"Well, this is everyone." Kanzawa-sensei addressed us "Well, the first selection is only the first of four. This may be extreme, but even if you end up last place this time there's still a possibility of you winning the contest. So relax and take it easy."

"Kanayan, say something more inspiring." Insisted Hihara

"Now then, I'll announce the order of performances.  
The first one is Shimizu.  
Next is Hihara.  
Natalie, Fuyuumi, Yunoki, Rachel, Sabrina, Hino.  
Then Tuskimori's turn.  
Well, I wish you good luck."

With that we were dismissed. I went and set up my soprano and popped my reed in my mouth.

"Gah, this tasted horrible." I complained to Tally.

"Are you using a new reed?" she asks

"No. I'm not stupid enough to use a new reed at a performance. I would squeak to no end if I did."

"We wouldn't want that." Laughed Rachel

"Nope." I agreed

"_Seisou Academy's Intraschool Musical Concours has just begun" _A female voice sounded over the speakers _"Performer number one, from the music department, 1-A, Shimizu Keiichi-kun."_

Shimizu walked onto the stage, visibly he wasn't nervous and neither was his accompanist but I wondered if he was on the inside. He didn't seem like a prideful guy that wouldn't be so full of himself that he wouldn't be nervous *cough cough* Tuskimori *cough cough*.

"_Performing a Boccherini composition 'Cello Concerto in B Flat Major'."_ He bowed and sat. He seemed to prep himself before he started ~ ~ ~ ~ His movements were smooth and the sound flowed perfectly. I'd never heard this piece before so I was all ears.

"Wow…Shimizu-kun is good." Hihara commented

My focus was distracted when Hino ran off somewhere.

I turned back as the final notes carried out to the audience. ~ ~ ~ ~ He had done a good job and the audience agreed. The clapping persisted as Hihara took the stage.

"_Performer number two, from the music department, 3-B, Hihara Kazuki-kun. Performing a Wagner composition 'Unter dem Doppeladler'."_

"What language is that?" asked Tally

"German I think." I turned back to the stage as Hihara started ~ ~ ~ ~ I listened to his clarity and I was impressed, not all trumpet players could get that crisp of a sound. He also seemed to put his feelings into the tune because it came across very light-hearted and joyful. ~ ~ ~ ~ The crowds reply was loud and he deserved it, he gave a nice smooth performance.

"_Performer number three, from the regular department, 2-2, Natalie Miles. Performing Buglers Holiday by Leroy Anderson." _Rachel and I silently cheered Tally and Ella on as they crossed the stage.

"I can't believe that's the piece she picked." Kim said

"It brings back memories right?"

"To think she would play a piece we did in band in ninth grade."

"Well it's the same piece but this time it's a solo not a trio, it makes it much harder. She doesn't have Jason and Emma backing her up this time." I looked to the stage. ~ ~ ~ ~ The all too familiar tune rang out through the hall.

"She hit the high note." Rachel cheered.

"Of course she did." I smiled

~ ~ ~ ~ Tally finished strong and she made her way off the stage.

"Good job!" I high-fived her as she walked by.

"Thanks."


End file.
